Making the switch: How 8 companies improved customer ...€¦ · Streamlining the customer experience with their new omnichannel solution came in especially handy on the first Black

Making the switch: How 8 companies improved customer experience with Zendesk

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Introduction

Chapter 1

Implementation: Tackling complexity with a simple solutionStanley Black and Decker

Uber

Chapter 2 Connections and customizations: Making tech work for youIngersoll Rand

Instacart

Chapter 3Differentiate through CX: Delivering superior experiencesBill.com

Airbnb

Chapter 4 By the numbers: Making sure it pays offFirst Utility

Mediaocean

Conclusion


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When you think about the best customer-service experiences,

what do you remember?

You probably encountered a friendly customer-service

representative who took time to really listen to you, going above

and beyond to solve your problem. The person on the other end

of the line or the live chat always seemed to know the context of

your issue, no matter how many interactions it took before

resolution. And even if you couldn’t see their face, you could tell

they delivered service with a smile and genuinely cared.

The bigger your business gets, the more challenging it can

become to deliver the kind of personal, thoughtful experiences

that stand out in your customers’ memories. But that doesn’t

mean it’s impossible. Agents willing to tackle difficult problems,

who are empowered with the right technology that preserves

important context about each support issue, are what it takes to

deliver exceptional customer support at scale.

We’ve had ample opportunity to see how powerful that

combination can be. Across industries, enterprise companies have

improved efficiency, maximized ROI, and delivered exceptional

customer service by merging the the right tools with a strategic,

customer-centric approach. To help you visualize doing the same

for your business, we’ve collected some of those success stories.

Your business is never too big to deliver a powerful, personal customer-service experience

Introduction


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Implementation: Tackling complexity with a simple solution

Whether it’s offering a diverse product

portfolio, servicing multiple audiences, or

depending on a variety of technology

partners for the business to run smoothly,

your needs can get complicated. But

whatever that looks like on the back end,

the customer has to come first, and their

experience must be seamless.

Technology platforms sometimes add to the

complexity in a growing business.

Disorganized migrations, convoluted code

management, and unclear platform

strategies with legacy systems can all lead

to unnecessary complication behind the

scenes, resulting in a confusing experience

for customers who need help. But if

implemented correctly, technology can

become part of the solution, allowing you to

streamline operations and create a better

experience for your customers.

1

With size and scale come complexity.


5

As the largest tool company in the world, Stanley

Black and Decker’s customer support team has a lot

of organizational challenges. The company is more

than a century old and manages multiple lines of

business within a growing global footprint. That

means they not only have to deliver customer service

across multiple channels, but also in multiple

languages and for a wide variety of product types. To

do all that, they need to effectively manage teams in

call centers located across time zones—from Turkey to

Argentina to Brazil.

The support team previously struggled to manage all

that complexity, and their customer service suffered

as a result. “Our contact centers were not designed

around multichannel response, so we didn’t really

have a way to answer questions coming in through

different channels,” Orlando Gadea Ros, Business

Innovation Manager, explained.

But switching solutions posed a risk. With 10,000

tickets processed in an average month, any disruption

to their customer-service processes could lead to

thousands of unhappy customers—not acceptable.

The challenge

Business complexity20 brands

50 tools sold every second

10,000 tickets processed monthly

4 languages

5 support channels

Simplicity achievedProduct implementation time: 3 weeks

Training time: 1 day

Support channels integrated

Help center locations connected

CX results90% CSAT

100% adherence to 1-hour SLA

500% increase in Black Friday sales YOY

https://www.stanleyblackanddecker.com/our-businesses/our-brands

https://www.stanleyblackanddecker.com/our-businesses/tools-and-storage


6Chapter 1 - Implementation: Tackling complexity with a simple solution

“We wanted a solution that integrated all channels and

that gave us the flexibility to implement in the way

that we needed,” says Gadea. He had previous

experience with Zendesk and knew it provided the

omnichannel support they sought.

The time to value was almost no time at all. Easy

implementation meant the entire system was up and

running in three weeks, and training agents on the

platform only took one day.

By connecting all their support channels on the back

end—the omnichannel solution—Zendesk enabled a

better experience for customers and an improved,

intuitive workflow for agents.

“I would use the word ‘efficiency’ to describe Zendesk,”

Gadea says.

Streamlining the customer experience with their new

omnichannel solution came in especially handy on the

first Black Friday after implementation. Zendesk’s Web

Widget, which embeds customer-service options

throughout the website experience, helped increase

sales by 500 percent over the previous year.

Making the switch

“It’s been amazing to showcase what technology can do and what we can be doing with real-time, live data—Zendesk helps us to be efficient, and without having to employ a large budget.”

Orlando Gadea Ros Business Innovation Manager


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Uber grew at a rate most startups dream of, spreading

operations over more than 420 cities, rapidly

onboarding drivers, and acquiring customers in each

region. Not only was their community growing at an

incredible pace, the company added new lines of

business on top of their rideshare service, like Uber

Eats and Uber for Business.

That growth, combined with Uber’s business model—

which requires appealing to and managing

relationships with multiple audiences—creates unique

challenges. Their support team services their entire

community, which includes customers, drivers, and

restaurants. In order to continue creating seamless

experiences for everyone, the support team also

grew—from a couple dozen to more than 1,000

dedicated agents in just a couple of years.

For every customer-service issue that comes up, the

company needs a way to make sure all parties are on

the same page and can communicate in real time. And

they need to be able to resolve issues fast—harried

customers trying to get to the airport for a flight, or

someone desperately hungry for dinner, won’t be

happy if kept waiting.

The challenge

Business complexity30,000 chats per week

Thousands of agents

10 languages

450 cities

79 countries

Multiple products

Simplicity achievedFast onboarding

Real-time communication

Improved workflows

CX resultsCSAT 95%

Chat first-response: < 30 seconds


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Uber started using Zendesk early in the company’s

history, so instead of making a switch, they were able

to adapt the product to their changing needs as they

grew. With more relationships to manage and

additional products available, Zendesk Chat became

a particularly important tool.

“Chat is great for onboarding new drivers, empowering

agents to answer many questions in one interaction,”

says Ashley Bradford, Global Chat Support Program

Manager. The business model only works if they have

enough drivers, so getting them ready for their first

ride quickly is important for the bottom line.

“Uber Eats is also an interesting use case for chat,”

Bradford added, “because we’re connecting three

parties—‘eaters’ with restaurants, and then couriers

handling the delivery.”

A successful Uber Eats delivery requires careful

coordination between the driver and the restaurant at

minimum, and, in many cases, an agent as well. And all

of it has to happen behind the scenes so the experience

is seamless for customers. Zendesk’s real-time

dashboard and chat features make that possible, and

getting started with it is easy. The tools help Bradford’s

team keep the average CSAT score above 95 percent.

Scaling with Zendesk

“You can set up Zendesk Chat quickly and use it to test the user experience. All you really need is a strong Internet connection.”

Ashley BradfordGlobal Chat Support Program Manager

Chapter 1 - Implementation: Tackling complexity with a simple solution


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Connections and customizations: Making tech work for you

On average, enterprise companies have more than

1,000 different tech products in the cloud alone. One

of the complexities of running a modern business is

making sure all the technologies that your company

depends on integrate well together. It is equally

important that those technologies successfully meet

your company’s unique needs and accomplish the

precise job for which you acquired them.

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https://resources.netskope.com/cloud-reports/april-2017-worldwide-cloud-report

https://relate.zendesk.com/articles/how-to-choose-the-right-technology-partner/

https://relate.zendesk.com/articles/how-to-choose-the-right-technology-partner/


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Ingersoll Rand has a diverse product portfolio, which

includes power tools, vehicles, and HVAC units. The

company prides itself on making products that last a

long time, which means they have to provide

customers with comprehensive warranties and

exceptional repair services.

With 5,000 licensed distributors helping them sell

and service all their products, Ingersoll Rand handles

a lot of customer-service inquiries. For a while, the

team tried fielding them all with Lotus Notes and

Microsoft Outlook, but they couldn’t track response

times on either platform, which kept them from

meeting their customers’ needs and becoming

more efficient. The solution was one that enabled

better tracking and a more integrated approach to

customer-service processes.

The challenge

Integrations achievedUPS

InContact

More to come...

CX results35 point increase in CSAT

4-hour SLA met 95% of the time


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After adopting Zendesk Support and Guide, the team

could easily start tracking response times, as well as

customer satisfaction (CSAT). For the first time, they

had metrics to guide them toward creating better

customer experiences. In addition, the Zendesk API

allowed them to connect their customer service with

all the other technologies used to monitor operations

and shape the customer experience.

To start, they used the API to connect Zendesk with

their delivery service. “We created an integration with

UPS so that we can rapidly generate UPS labels for

warranty evaluation, repair, and returns,” says product

support engineer James Ripley. “That integration is

pretty slick,” he added.

In addition, they linked their online customer support

system with their phone system, InContact. Voice

tickets are generated each time a call comes in, which

makes them easy to track alongside email messages,

which compose the majority of their support requests.

With a more streamlined system, they’ve seen their

customer satisfaction rate go up by 35 points. Their

support team now meets their goal of responding to a

ticket within four hours 95 percent of the time.

“It is a substantial leap forward,” says Ripley. And

because those integrations worked so well, they plan

to use the API to build a larger integration that

connects their back-end systems for submitting

warranty claims, ordering parts, and communicating

with repair centers.

Making the switch

Every time I turned around, Zendesk was working with my team, teaching us and helping us grow.”

Kelly Dees Vice President of Global Customer Experience for Fluid Management

Chapter 2 - Connections and customizations: Making tech work for you

https://developer.zendesk.com/


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Instacart’s business model requires serving two

unique audiences effectively: shoppers and

customers. Their support process depends on having

data about both audiences, and the ability to find that

data at a moment’s notice. To do this, the company

needed a system that could integrate with the custom

internal tools used to track and organize that data.

“When helping customers, it’s important to know

contact information, recent order information, and

coupon and credit balance,” says Jeremy Flanagan,

Customer Ops Project Lead of Tools. “When helping

shoppers, it’s important to know what type of shopper

they are, and if their status is active or dormant.”

The team needed a way to keep those two worlds of

data separate, but equally accessible. And they

needed their system to help them efficiently serve a

high volume of service requests—up to 20,000 calls

and another 20,000 emails a week.

The challenge

Unique needsSegmentation for two audiences

Integration with custom tools

40,000 support calls and emails a week

Customizations and integrations achievedUser data included in product view

Five Most Recent app

Internal support provided

CX results90%+ CSAT

Better understanding of customer journey

https://www.zendesk.com/apps/support/five-most-recent/


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The most important feature they were looking for in a

customer-support product was the ability to call up user

data whenever it was needed. Since it integrates nicely

with the company’s custom data tools, Zendesk helps

provide a holistic view of the relationship the company

has with each customer and shopper, enabling more

productive conversations in crucial moments.

“We have almost every piece of relevant data coming in

on the ticket based on the user,” says Flanagan. This

helps them route each request to the best support

agent and ensure they have all the information they

need to deliver quick, effective service—paving the

way for an exceptional customer experience.

Zendesk’s Five Most Recent app provides even more

useful information each time an agent helps a

customer by displaying the five past tickets they’ve

submitted. “It’s always helpful to gain more context

around a user’s past support requests,” says Flanagan.

Making the switch

“It’s paramount for us to be able to build exactly what we need. Zendesk provides a vast collection of integrations and opportunities for customization as part of our subscription.”

Jeremy FlanaganCustomer Ops Project Lead of Tools at Instacart

Chapter 2 - Connections and customizations: Making tech work for you

https://www.zendesk.com/apps/five-most-recent/


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Differentiate through CX: Delivering superior experiences

Speed of implementation and improved efficiency are

important for every business to consider when

choosing the right vendor. But what matters most in

customer service is creating the best possible

experience for the people you serve.

The right customer-service software empowers your

agents to deliver exceptional customer experience

(CX), and the right vendor will partner with you to help

your team achieve that goal. Rest assured, you don’t

have to choose between delivering great CX and

enjoying speed, efficiency, and cost savings. We’ve

seen Zendesk customers do it all.

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An important part of serving customers well is

understanding their common needs and questions.

Bill.com was able to use their previous provider,

Oracle RightNow, to provide quick answers. But

because they couldn’t bring all their channels into

one system, they struggled without a single source

of truth. Taking each inquiry on a case-by-case basis

meant they weren’t able to take a holistic approach

to their customer-service strategy. The solution was

finding a partner that allowed them to be more

proactive.

“We want to optimize our support organization and

customer experience to ensure that the customer’s

needs are being met, maybe even before they even

know they have a need,” explained Director of

Customer Support, Ashish Patel.

The challenge

Customer challenges8 brands

2.5 million members

18,000 tickets per month

50 agents

4 channels

CX results95% CSAT

80% adherence to SLAs


16Chapter 3 - Differentiate through CX: Delivering superior experiences

Moving their customer support system to Zendesk

streamlined internal processes, ensuring all support

conversations across channels happen in one place.

That makes tracking what customers want and need

at different points in their journey much easier.

“Now we’re looking at what’s actually happening with

the customer wherever they are in their journey with

us,” says Patel.

Instead of scrambling to respond to each ticket as it

comes in, agents begin each interaction knowing where

the customer is in that journey. Furthermore, agents are

trained to know the top concerns at each of those points.

For example, this could mean the difference between

common questions from brand-new customers vs those

who have been using Bill.com for a while.

“Zendesk has become a one-stop shop for us, and

has allowed us to be strategic in ways we might not

have been able to be with other software providers,”

said Patel.

With all the information they need at their disposal,

the company is comfortable holding their agents to

ambitious SLAs: answering all emails within one

business day, 80 percent of chats in less than two

minutes, and 80 percent of scheduled calls within an

hour. The agents pull it off 80 percent of the time.

Making the switch

“Our solution with Zendesk has created this ecosystem that gives us a single source of truth from a customer support standpoint, but that has also helped us optimize the agent experience inside the organization.”

Ashish PatelDirector of Customer Support


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Airbnb went from booking three million guests a year

in 2012—already surpassing many established hotel

chains—to more than 100 million in 2017. In addition to

serving a huge number of travelers, they also cater to

hosts located in more than 65,000 cities.

To satisfy the needs of so many different people,

the company has thousands of customer-service

agents operating out of 20 locations around the

world. Given the nature of their business, when

someone needs help, they need it fast. Agents need

a way to quickly get up to speed on the situation of

any traveler or host that gets in touch, no matter what

channel they use—be it email, social media, SMS, or

other messaging channels.

Furthermore, every issue those customers face is

unique, and agents have to tailor each response to

make sure it applies to the location of a traveler or

host, the rental type in question, and the specific issue

the customer is facing.

Providing personalized support to multiple audiences

in more than 100 countries, and 20 languages,

therefore, would be no easy feat. The company

needed a tool that could handle that complexity, and a

vendor willing to help them tailor it for those needs.

The challenge

Customer challenges191 countries

65,000 cities

20 languages

4 million+ listings

More than 100 million guests

CX resultsPersonalized support

360-degree view of customers

Phone calls answered within minutes

Emails answered within 24 hours

1-1 messaging enabled


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While the team was weighing their options for the right

customer-service product, “scalability and reliability

and 24/7 uptime were big factors,” says Shirley Lin,

product lead for the Support Products Group. They

started using Zendesk early on, and as the company’s

needs became more complicated over time, the

software continues delivering.

“We have customers that book room listings, but they

also book experiences and have restaurant reservations,”

she says. When they get in touch with customer service,

the agent needs an easy way to see the details of their

relationship with Airbnb and all the bookings and rentals

associated with their account. Connecting Zendesk with

Airbnb’s internal tools, they can tap into a 360-degree

view of each customer and their history.

That helps them provide accurate, personalized

responses quickly. The majority of phone calls are

answered within minutes during peak periods, and

emails are typically answered within 24 hours. This

workflow was the result of working closely with

Zendesk to customize the product for their needs.

“Having a partner that really understands our business,

and how ambitious we are, is huge—because service,

at the end of the day, needs to be in lockstep with

every single track of work that’s happening within

Airbnb.” says Lin.

Scaling with Zendesk

“Zendesk has been a good partner to us. They’ve constantly worked with us to make sure that Zendesk scales with Airbnb, which is no small feat.”

Shirley Linproduct lead for the Support Products Group

Chapter 3 - Differentiate through CX: Delivering superior experiences


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By the numbers: Making sure it pays off

Customer-service software stands to make life easier

across an entire organization, not just within support.

Though those ripple effects will likely come further

down the line, support software has to start providing

value ASAP. That’s why it’s crucial to select a solution

that will prove a return on that investment, in terms of

cost savings and support efficiency.

For our customers that have done the math, the ROI

on Zendesk is clear.

4


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As the U.K.’s largest independent energy supplier,

First Utility serves more than 800,000 homes with a

variety of utility services. On top of the complications

inherent in supplying multiple services to such a large

number of customers, the amount of technology

required to run an energy company brings an extra

dose of complexity. First Utility uses multiple systems

for different types of energy, for billing, for new

provisions, and for home moving.

As the company’s offerings and number of software

systems it depended on grew, the Salesforce platform

they used became increasingly difficult to integrate

with everything else.

“It evolved into a difficult-to-manage beast,” explained

Rob Harris, Head of Customer Service Platforms. “We

ended up in a place where we had a very convoluted

interface, and the advisor experience was negatively

impacted as a result of that.”

While striving to meet their customers’ needs in the

face of continued growth, the Salesforce platform failed

to adapt to their needs—limiting their ability to achieve

their goals. “I would’ve ended up in a very restrictive

place; uncomfortably dependent upon on a very

complicated system that would only cost more as time

went on,” says Harris.

The challenge

ROI by the numbers£200 million saved annually

50% reduction in onboarding time

CX resultsCustomer Service of the Year Award 2017

20-second reduction in average

handle time


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Harris instead looked for a product that could

seamlessly integrate with the other systems they used,

and provide an ease of use that was lacking in their

previous solution. Upon switching to Zendesk, they

quickly saw a difference.

“It is far simpler to administer our Zendesk solution

than it was to administer the Salesforce platform,

partially because we’ve been able to clean up the

interface and get rid of a lot of the old dead wood we

had hanging around,” says Harris.

That simplicity led to measurable results in efficiency.

Because of how much faster they can train advisors

on the product, onboarding time went down by

50 percent, and average handle time was reduced

by 20 seconds.

Making the switch

“We’ve seen around a £2 million annualized benefit by making this move this year, and we certainly expect that to grow next year as we develop additional Zendesk apps to replace the different systems our advisors use when helping our customers.”

Rob HarrisHead of Customer Service Platforms

Chapter 4 - By the numbers: Making sure it pays off


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Mediaocean first chose Zendesk in 2012. They

considered 10 options before settling on Zendesk

Support due to its clean interface and promise of

improving efficiency.

“We saw a greater ROI in Zendesk versus the other

options,” says Stephanie Dorman, Senior Vice

President of Client Services. “We did a cost analysis

and showed how we were going to save money and

increase productivity with Zendesk.”

Their calculations in the decision-making process paid

off and they were happy with their choice. “Both our

internal users and our clients loved the product,”

according to Dorman.

Everything was going great until the company was

bought, and a mandate from the new owners required

they switch to a different customer-service product.

The problems with the new product started as early as

implementation. “It was complicated and incredibly

expensive. Every time we turned around, there was

another unanticipated customization or charge,”

Dorman says.

Both agent productivity and customer experience took

a hit. The average number of tickets closed per day

declined, and web-portal usage dropped 75 percent.

The challenge

ROI by the numbersProduct implementation time: 2 months

90% of needs met “out of the box”

Employee satisfaction up 20 points

Attrition rate < 3%

CX results98% CSAT

Portal adoption up 305%


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As the problems with their new vendor piled up,

Dorman collected data on the consequences of the

switch. On top of the decrease in efficiency, a matrix

she and her team created showed that 90 percent of

what they needed came standard with Zendesk,

without requiring the expensive customizations they

faced with the product they’d been forced to use.

Still, switching back wasn’t an easy sell. “We had spent

a ton of money to make the change,” she explained.

And going back before their contract was up would

mean eating thousands of dollars. “But the more we

went through the process, it became clear we needed

to go back,” she says.

The decision to go back to Zendesk paid off. Employee

satisfaction increased by 40 points. Clients went back

to the portal, with usage increasing by 305 percent.

And training times decreased. Across the board, the

company saw efficiencies, cost savings, and better

customer satisfaction.

Making the switch (back)

“We saw a greater ROI in Zendesk versus the other options. We did a cost analysis and showed how we were going to save money and increase productivity with Zendesk.”

Stephanie DormanSenior Vice President of Client Services

Chapter 4 - By the numbers: Making sure it pays off


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Conclusion

Rolling out a new customer-service solution can be intimidating,

especially for businesses with many interwoven stakeholders

and processes. But with a product that’s intuitive, easy to use,

and armed with features that meet your needs and improve ROI,

the switch can pay off fast, with minimal disruption.

Zendesk Enterprise provides the mix of simplicity, flexibility, and

rich features that businesses need to meet their customer service

goals while supporting the bottom line. Contact us to learn more

about making the switch.

https://www.zendesk.com/enterprise/

Documents

Making the switch: How 8 companies improved customer ...€¦ · Streamlining the customer experience with their new omnichannel solution came in especially handy on the first Black